DavesGaming

We set out to find some old contacts of Jaheira’s likely to be found in or about a dive of a bar called the Copper Coronet. I rambled off some tidbits I thought I recalled reading about Athkatla, the city where we currently found ourselves. It is a little bigger than Baldur’s Gate. But while Baldur’s Gate is a free city, Athkatla is the capital city of Amn. Amn is a nation in the ethnic, cultural and political sense. And is prosperous in business and resources. It is currently ruled by the Coucil of Six, formed from the the leading merchant families in the land. Jaheira offered no correction, I assume I’m mostly correct.

Jaheira led us towards a scruffier part of town, a man approached wanting to talk.

Well that was an interesting introduction! He suggested it would be difficult and expensive, but he worked for an association that could make it happen. We would need 40000 gold pieces (!) to get things going. He explained that crossing the Cowled Wizards, who had arrested Imoen, was not a thing to be undertaken lightly. Frustrating, not so long ago I could have come up with that kind of money on demand. At the moment, it would be more complicated. I don’t think the six of us together were worth more than a couple thousand.
I suggested the difficulty of this. He chuckled. Said I looked like the sort who likely had such funds before, and could do so again. Okay. That was hard to argue with. I asked if he knew of anyone looking for a troop of adventurers…
He pointed us towards the Copper Coronet. Funny that.
Yoshimo affirmed what I already suspected, this was the local Thieves’ Guild, the Shadow Thieves, making contact. He had some less than pleasent dealings with them.
Given what I currently think of the local authorities, I’m not sure the thieves would be any worse.

As we continued walking that way, I saw a woman who matched the description of Nem, the mage we had been told to seek out for help with our broken dagger. Nem opened with saying she could cut a good deal on a salve for a magical rash. Shoot, do I look like I need that? I thought we’d all cleaned up pretty good this morning!

I explained we had lost a friend into the blade, and needed her out. Nem would need a few days, with the dagger, to do some research and see what could be done. I was a little worried to let it go, but none of us knew quite what to do with the thing. Nem said she should have our answers in about three days.
That was apparently as far as we could take that for now.

Approaching the Copper Coronet, it is a huge ramshackle mess of a building. Easily the size of a major warehouse, I think there’s a lot more to this place than “bar”. As we entered I suggested to Yoshimo we part ways for now, I would let him know if we needed his skills again. He seemed hesitant to go, but I’m hesitant to completely trust him. So for now he goes.
The Copper Coronet is an assault on the senses. It is huge and loud. I could see a large grill cooking up a variety of meats. A huge mass of people, all sorts of people socializing and doing business. A sleezy money lender was right near the door. Several venders had booths set up for business.

Well that sounded right up our alley. Especially since I’m currently thinking we need to make some money. I invited Nalia to join with us and we would make our way to her family home.
Not two minutes later we met a nobleman, a Lord Jierdan Firkraag, was offering 10000 gold to help free his land of ogres and trolls. Sounds like a couple of similar jobs, of the sort we can do.
Nalia cautioned Lord Firkraag had a reputationn as a hard man, don’t assume we’ll easily get what he just promised.
Swell. From here we were near to what looked to be a main business part. I stepped forward to introduce myself to a man who seemed to want to be noticed.

Oh that doesn’t sound so good. I looked to Jaheira, ‘what are we doing here?’

Well, that wasn’t who she wanted to talk to. A business manager of sorts was nearby.

He was the one Jaheira had known for many years. He seemed to think the Fire Knives were the best option for going against the Cowled Wizards.
Now at this point I was a little curious. I don’t mean to look for trouble, really. But it bothered me. What exactly did Lehtinan have going on in his back rooms? Especially since it was clear from the outside, the “back rooms” were expansive. It sounded like gambling at least… if that’s all it is I could walk away. But there was such a moral stench to the man, even apart from the fact he detected as thoroughly evil. Since we had “permission” to check out his den of vice, we would.

It was as bad as anything I’d ever seen.

It was clear the poor halfling man did not want to fight the troll. I fear I really put Nalia on the defensive for a moment. I think I meant to shut this place down on my own authority either way. But if its illegal, I won’t even have to apologize to anyone for it.
Nalia was horrified. She clarified, slave pit fights are illegal. Its a little murky if they’re pros, but slavery is illegal in the city. I could feel Aerie’s discomfort and anger growing too.
Allright, we’re ending this. I led my crew down to the floor to the back of the pits where there were cages for slaves. I met Hendak, a gladiator locked in a cell. Um, we may have killed six guards to talk to him. He was a tribal leader of sorts, there were a dozen of his people locked up with him. Including children. I asked who had the keys. He told me. “We’ll be back.”

He called on a large minotaur and a menagerie of beasts to fight us. But I was right, it was fatal for him.
We rushed back to the cells and released Hendak and his people. This led to an all out conflict with the various guards in the place.
The fighting continued out to the front, and Hendak slew Lehtinan.
I gave the keys to Hendak.

Hendak said they held most of thier children at another place in town. He thought there was a tunnel from here to where they were.
We looked around and found a hidden passage down into the sewers.

It lead us to a guarded warehouse.

So far, the corruption in this city is easing my conscience about dealing with the thieves to find Imoen.
There was a holding cell right behind the warehouse, a child had just been thrown in the cell with a troll! We killed the troll, and found a few more cells. We found a total of four kids!

It was really hard to hold the kids attention with Minsc standing there.
But they listened. We cleared out more guards, and a couple mages. Soon we had the building all quiet. We took the kids all back over to the Copper Coronet, to their families.
We had earned a lifetime discount on all goods and services at the inn. Hey, we can use that! Starting with a good meal and a relaxing evening. I wondered if any city officials or guards (or army) would come looking for us, but they never did.
In the morning, we set out with Nalia for her family home.

They had a spellcaster, and a couple of moderately skilled warriors. Higher class bandits than we fought around Baldur’s Gate last year! And they were on us fast. Aerie and Nalia had to scramble to get out of the way. Thankfully they did, and we were all alright.

Continuing on our way, we weren’t too far out of town when we came across a gang of some sort with a captive. They weren’t the talkative sorts, and they attacked us. In the end, it was just us and the captive.

So we weren’t getting out of town yet!

Rylock was sure his people could find a treatment, so we left our patient with him.

By this point our day was about shot, so we stopped by an inn for the night.

A man, Baron Ployer, claimed Jaheira had ruined him and his family. Now he had his revenge. She had been cursed, and she would waste away. Nothing could save her, he boasted. He teleported out with a great villain’s cackle.
But I’d noticed, the actual cursing was done by a group of mages. Hired thugs? Nalia suggested we visit the Cowled Wizards office, if the mages were licensed in this city we should be able to find them.
“Licensed in this city?” This gets more convoluted all the time.
We set off for the government offices. And were intercepted by a cleric of Waukeen. The goddess of good business had been missing since the Time of Troubles (when I was conceived). But she still has a following. And clergy. They said they had a business offer for a willing group of adventures.
So far this city seems full of opportunities! We will look into this later.
At the city hall, we found the representative of the Cowled Wizards. They denied all knowledge of the mages we sought. They were also very unhelpful about where Imoen might be. Well, I won’t tell them we have another source for this information! Funny, they did sell licenses for magic use! I bought one for my team. I won’t have Aerie or Nalia arrested! Even if it galls me to give any money to these toads.

When leaving the city hall, a mage called to us from the shadows. He was wearing the colors of the mages who cursed Jaheira! A talk with him was most illuminating. He suggested the curse could be broken by taking back a locket of Jaheira’s hair currently in Baron Ployer’s possession. He casually mentioned they were under contract to protect Baron Ployer until all his vendetta targets were dead. But for a nominal fee, he could promise they would be busy when Ployer summoned.
As we concluded our business, he mentioned Ployer had a home in the Slums District. That’s where the Copper Coronet is, so we would check with Jaheira’s friend there to see where he could be found.
Along the way I asked Jaheira what she had done to the man. He was a commercial slaver. Such is illegal in Athkatla. So she and some friends exposed his business. He was ruined.
We found Bernard and asked about this man. Jaheira learned she was the last of her old friends still living. Bernard had some thoughts about where Ployer might be found, and we set after him.

Especially amusing when his summoned help did not materialize. I think I had convinced him the smart move was to surrender? But Jaheira ended him. I won’t criticize her for that, she chose justice over mercy which I believe was her right. And we found the locket, Jaheira was free.

Now we really did need a rest. We stayed the night at the Copper Coronet. And set out, again, for Nalia’s home in the morning.

Trolls. And Yuan-Ti? Those always ill tempered snake men? We’ve not faced those before.
There was a stockade off to the side. The survivors of the castle garrison, maybe a dozen troops, were held up here. They reported the trolls had kept inside the last few days, but they were all that was left of the garrison.
Nalia lead us to a sally port, so we could enter the castle covertly.

We killed the troll, but not before it killed the servant. Of course Nalia knows her staff. This was particularly horrifying to her.
We pushed through the ground floor, and killed eight trolls? They killed another servant before our eyes. But one older man was kept safe. We worked our way out to the gatehouse, to let the surviving troops back in. They could help secure spaces as we cleared them.

After meeting them at the entrance, I was sure we had the first floor cleared. The second floor of the keep had all the residences.

We were able to rescue a couple of isolated guards, and an unpleasant (!) aunt of Nalia’s. But really, we’ve found very few signs of survivors. And not a whole lot of attackers? Nalia thought they had to be in the cellers.

Oh yes they were! We battled quite a few. Especially more trolls.

This was a tough fight! Trolls are fearsome anyway, the monsterous chieftain required a lot from all of us. Plus he had a couple of giant trolls with him.

We won. But the damage done was horrible. There were many dead in this room, including Nalia’s father. Her grief was undisguised and we cleared her out as quickly as we could after. This was also where the soldiers and much of the household staff we hadn’t seen yet lay dead. This fortress, this home had been ruined.

I appreciated what a thoughtful and engaged crew Nalia’s father had recruited and trained here.
After a while, maybe an hour, Nalia’s first action was to hand the agreed payment to me. And she thanked me for helping her.
I asked what more we could do? This land and the people had suffered a horrible loss, and now they were exposed to a dangerous world. Nalia smiled, sadly! “Oh I have a thought, its a big ask.”
“Know that I will help however I can.”
“Well, under Amnian law I am betrothed to a spoiled brat of a nobleman whom I loathe.”
“You know I’m married.”
“HAH! Oh that would go over well. No I uh, have no real rights where the marriage is concerned. And as a mage I can’t rule in my father’s stead. [Odd law, I’d never heard of that before.] But I am his executor. I can bequeath the castle and its lands… to you.”
“What?!”
“Yeah, well, you’d be a steward of sorts. You’d rule in the De’Arnise family name. Brad you’re one of the finest, noblest people I’ve ever met. I would be honored to have you and your husband take the position.”
“Give me some time. We’ll talk about this more tomorrow. Amyntor and I should talk, and you and I will need to talk more. For now, let’s help your guys move some stuff around.”

And we did. It was an exhausting afternoon. We cleared out broken stuff from all over the castle. Jaheira volunteered to lead a team to remove bodies for burial. I thanked her for taking on such an awful, thankless job.
And the next day, Nalia and I talked more. I was obviously much concerned about finding Imoen, and Skie for that matter. And I would probably need to ensure Irenicus could no longer cause us grief. And I told her of the need my husband and I both felt to make things right wherever we saw evil and injustice. Finally, I told her I was a Bhaalspawn. That surprised her! But it didn’t seem to bother her.

Wow. That was a big thing! I looked over the dozen remaining soldiers, a few surviving Castle staff. Nalia’s aunt huffed and said I was no better than the trolls, she stormed off. Can’t please ’em all!

The next day we had business to see to in Athkatla. I had a beautiful, and very effective Flail that would be my new primary weapon. But honestly, I’m not strong enough to use it ordinarily; I need to cast Draw Upon Holy Might, or drink a Giant Strength Potion or something. We actually amassed a lot of stuff in all these fights the last couple days, arms, armor and miscellaneous magic *stuff* are all worth money. We need to save money to get to Imoen, we also need money to be a more effective team, and now we need money to repair a Castle and all that comes with it.
Fortunately there seems to be a lot of work available just now. Nem should have a report for us on the Soul Taker Dagger. We fought a small group of Slavers and have some leads on more of them who need rooting out. We met with a man who wanted us to help look into some uncurable poisons that have been used in town (like the guy we returned to the docks.) There’s a few other things that have come up. And now we will need to check back in at the Castle periodically. Fortunately it is only a few hours from Athkatla.
It could be easy to feel overwhelmed. there is so much to see to in the immediate future. Well, Amyntor and I wanted to set things right in Faerun.

*****

This is such a huge Update for the team. The only levels gained were Aerie hit 11th level Mage and Nalia hit 12th level Mage. Neither is a huge thing.

But we got stuff… Amyntor bought the mace Mauler’s Arm. That will give him an 18 Strength. That’s not hugely strong, but it does give him a constant Strength bonus. He will wield it with the sword Varscona for now. He also got +1 plate mail, an improvement over the chain mail. Both of these changes should show up in his future renders.
Brad is specialized in Flail, even though she can’t use one without a little boost. We now have the Flail of Ages, probably the best weapon available this early in the game. So Brad bought a Girdle of Hill Giant Strength. That and the Flail are a huge boost to her melee effectiveness. The Flail should also appear in her next renders.

The next couple updates will focus on a number of side missions in the area. Including I think, the expanded “Cost of a Girl’s Soul” mod and the all new “Poisoned Pathways” mod. This should be fun!